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Matt Baker visits Hooke Park in Dorset, an extraordinary School of Architecture in the middle of beautiful woodland. Matt discovers various innovative buildings on site, which have been designed and constructed by the students. He sees some of the traditional methods they are being taught as well as more innovative techniques - like using tree forks in the design of buildings. These are naturally strong parts of a tree, which tend to be wasted. The students are also using a cutting edge bit of kit, a robot arm which they can programme to cut the wood to any shape or size. Then Matt helps with the delicate operation of putting together a rather unique building.

Radipole Lake is a quiet haven for wildlife right in the heart of Weymouth. It’s the RSPB’s only urban nature reserve. Ellie Harrison meets the reserve manager Rob Farrington who shows her how this reserve is flourishing. Ellie then gets stuck in and helps local volunteers clear vegetation from the banks where the kingfishers live – so they can create nests. After all the hard work Ellie meets Rob in the hide to see if she can spot a kingfisher for herself.

Tom Heap is on the south coast looking at the controversy caused by plans to dredge Falmouth Harbour. Widening and deepening the port will allow larger ships to dock and it is claimed that this is vital for the local economy and jobs. But, as Tom finds out, there is serious concern about the environmental impact the dredging could have, especially in the area where there are beds of a rare form of seaweed called maerl. Tom also talks to the body that grants the licences for dredging – and visits another port where they have managed to find a solution that has kept all sides happy. 

Jules Hudson visits a butcher’s in Bridport that is thought to be the oldest in the country. The Balson family started the business around five hundred years ago, during the reign of Henry VIII – in the town’s old ‘shambles’. Today Richard Balson is the 26th generation of the family to run the butcher’s shop. Jules finds out more about what has made the business last for five centuries and helps Richard create one of the shop’s favourites – faggots. But can Jules convince Richard to share the faggot’s secret ingredient with him? 

Growing old has its challenges and, in isolated rural communities, it can bring feelings of loneliness and a sense of being cut off from the world. Ellie Harrison visits a project aimed at helping older men in Dorset’s most rural areas deal with those challenges. She meets Julie Plumley, the founder of Future Roots, a social enterprise that was set up to reconnect young people, adults and families to farming and the countryside. One of its many successes is The Countrymen’s Club which aims to help older men become more resilient to the life-changes they experience as a result of rural isolation and ageing. Ellie meets staff and helps out with the farm tasks, ending up in the Countrymen Club Room for a cup of tea and a good old sing song.

Autumn may be a quieter time on his farm, but there is still plenty to keep Adam Henson occupied. Adam checks on the progress of two of the animals that he introduced to the farm earlier this year – both of which had the same job to do. The animals in question are a new bull and a new ram, essential to bringing new calves or lambs to the farm in the spring. One simple way of checking that the ram is doing its job, is to attach a colour block to the underside. That then rubs off on the ewes, allowing Adam to see which ones having been getting the ram’s attention!